Same Old Song

"Ouch," Lou muttered as she flopped onto her side to avoid the inevitable; which in this case happened to be morning. The sharp pain in her leg quickly remedied any intentions she had of going back to sleep.

"They were quiet," Lou murmured as she threw back the covers and sat up, contemplating whether she really wanted her feet to touch the cold wood floor or not. And they really had been quiet, especially for them. Surely Kid and Jimmy stopped back by her room to check on her, but she hadn't stirred.

With a sigh, she finally made the commitment to get out of bed and get dressed, glancing sadly at her discarded dress, and opting instead for her usual trousers and button up shirt. She studied the wound on her leg crossly for a minute. It wasn't seriously injured, but it was sore as the devil and purple from knee to hip.

"Could have been worse," she told her leg as she pulled the pants up over the injury, wincing as the material chafed the punctures.

A few minutes later she rapped her knuckles sharply across Kid's door. Her first efforts had been fruitless, and she figured he was exhausted. She decided to try her luck with the lighter of the two sleepers, Jimmy.

When several minutes later, knocking and shouting had failed to rouse him, and instead had caused several other guest to poke their heads out their doors and glare at her, Lou gave into the ball of worry growing in her stomach.

She went to her room, and retrieving one of the many pins the dress maker had used to hold her hair up, she deftly picked Kid's lock and burst into the room.

She actually felt the color drain from her face. His bed was neatly made, his bedroll sitting untouched on it. Kid had not come back last night.

A similar intrusion into Jimmy's room showed her a likewise undisturbed bed.

An hour. That's how long they'd told her they would be out. What had happened to them? How in the world, in the relatively massive city of Denver, which was as foreign to her as Rome, would she ever find them if they needed her help?

Fighting down a wave of panic, Lou firmly closed and locked Jimmy's door and went back to her own room to retrieve her gun and hat before flying down the stairs.

"Mr. McCloud?"

Lou caught a glance of a man in a business suit with a note pad in his hands hurrying toward her, and she doubled her stride. Swearing softly under her breath, she suddenly realized that she'd forgotten all about the interviews they were supposed to attend today.

"Mr. McCloud!" The man shouted again, not one to take a hint, and with a groan, Lou stopped suddenly and turned to face him, pulling on her glasses self consciously.

The man doubled slightly to catch his breath, "Ah! I was looking for you and your colleagues. I'm Nathan Goodwin, the journalist from the Denver Post. Ready to get started?"

"Uh-no, this isn't a good time for me," Lou said.

"Well then perhaps The Kid or Mr. Hickok?"

Lou didn't miss the slight rise of his voice when he mentioned Jimmy, and scowled at the man. Of course he was dying to interview Jimmy.

"I'm afraid they are busy…" Lou said nervously, starting to walk away. She wasn't overly surprised when the journalist fell into step beside her.

"Well, then let me just come with you and ask some questions, you won't even know that I'm here!"

"No!" Lou growled more fiercely than she'd intended to, "Leave me alone!"

"Well, at least tell me where I can find Mr. Hickok and the other gentleman," he persisted.

With a cry of exasperation, Lou threw her hands up, "I don't know where they are! I haven't seen them since last night! So kindly, leave me be, and find them yourself!"

Lou realized it was foolish of her to tell the journalist that Jimmy and Kid were missing, but it was too late, and she knew good and well he would have dogged her until he'd gotten some sort of answer from her.

With a sigh, she left him there, visions of stories dancing in his eyes, and walked on alone, worry eating at her.

A soft hand stroked his hair gently, doing wonders for the pounding pain in his skull. "Lou," Kid murmured joyfully, smiling slightly despite the pain.

"Finally, you're awake! It's about time!" A shrill voice pointed out as Kid dared open his eye a tiny bit to allow a piercing ray of light to penetrate his brain.

"Some fine rescuer you turned out to be!"

A groan far off, which Kid recognized as Jimmy's, finished the job of waking him. His eyes came open fully and he found his head in a pillow of silver satin, and the brightest green eyes he'd ever seen were peering down at him.

He jerked in surprise and sat upright, placing a palm on his temple to stop the throbbing, wondering how he'd ended up in Layla's lap.

"Are you alright?" Layla asked Kid gently, seeing his look of utter confusion.

Finally getting his bearings, Kid didn't answer her, but instead looked around the room. It was dark and small, and indistinguishable from any other room in the world.

"Did you see where we are?" Kid wondered as Jimmy began to pull himself to a sitting position.

"They blindfolded me," Layla said in apology, "I don't know where we are."

Jimmy looked amazed to find the girl of his dreams sitting not five feet from him, "Are you alright, Miss? Did they hurt you?"

Layla lifted a delicate brow in his direction, "No, with no thanks to you two, I might add."

Kid glared at her, "Would now be a good time to point out we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't butted in….Miss?" He added the respectful 'Miss' through clenched teeth.

Layla's mouth dropped open, "You'll not talk to me like that! Do you know who I am?"

"I'm sure you're about to tell us," Jimmy couldn't resist guessing.

"That's right! I'm the Governor of New York's only daughter! And when he finds out I'm missing he'll…"

Kid interrupted her, remembering Lazy Eye's remark from the day before about not killing hostages until you knew how much they were worth, "He'll pay the outrageous ransom these men will ask for you."

Layla nodded, "Yes, he'll do whatever it takes to get me out of here!"

Jimmy sighed, "Well, unless Lou robs a bank, we're not going to have the luxury of being worth much."

"God, poor Lou. What will she do when she finds out we are missing?" Kid moaned.

"Find us," Jimmy said with confidence.

Layla's eyes narrowed at Kid's second mention of a girl named 'Lou'. She found herself very attracted to this man, who seemed immune to her beauty. It became her objective almost instantly to remedy that, and she had little doubt in her ability to do so. She was too good for either of them anyway, but she always got what she wanted, and she wanted Kid.

"I know!" She said suddenly, with shrewdness that impressed both Jimmy and Kid, "We'll just make you worth a lot too!" She turned her green gaze on Kid, "You'll be my fiancé!"

Kid cringed, already not liking how this idea was starting out. He glanced at Jimmy, "And what about him?"

Layla's face fell. Obviously she hadn't planned that far ahead. "Well-he'll….he'll be my brother! Yes, my brother! They don't know I'm an only child!"

Jimmy and Kid exchanged a look, the look of cornered animals on the verge of desperation. Which they were, they grudgingly admitted and nodded slowly.

Lou spun in a circle around herself in the middle of the street. She didn't have a clue where she would even start looking for them. Heck, she didn't even know how to find the Marshal…much less rescue anybody.

Calm down, she tried to ease herself, the boys probably just went out and got lost. Then maybe they went out and had a little too much fun. Yeah, that's it!

Lou stopped herself from thinking. That was the stupidest excuse she'd ever created in her life! Of course they hadn't done something like that. For one thing, that was completely unlike Kid, and second of all, she just had that sinking feeling that something terrible had happened. If only they had let her go with them last night, it probably wouldn't have happened…whatever it was.

Louise decided that perhaps one of the best courses of action would be to start at the scene of the crime last night. That was most likely where the boys had begun their search last night…so, consequently, it became hers as well. However, she wasn't particularly interested in seeing any boards with nails in them. She already had a painful limp, and seeing as how things had been going for her these past days…she would more than likely step on a sharp object, trip, and fall on her face.

Carefully maneuvering around the debris that still covered the ground, she made her way to the Treasury Building…or what remained of it. She took a good look around, and felt so disappointed she could have cried. Their were no leads or signs of anything, which in turn gave her no clue as to what might have transpired while she slept peacefully the night before. It was infuriating and sickening all at the same time.

"HEEEEEEELP!!!" A shrill voice pierced the air and before Lou saw what was coming towards her. She fell backwards to the ground as a heavy force pounded upon her entire body. Shoot, I've hit the floor twice in one day. This is becoming a habit with me, she groaned inwardly as she looked up to see a young and frenzied girl on top of her. Lou wondered how exactly that had happened, but she wasn't about to go asking questions.

"Would you kindly get off of me!?" Lou pleaded, trying to sound as dignified as she could, considering the circumstances.

Alana rolled off of her and apologized three times, "I'm so sorry, sir, I wasn't looking where I was going. I just saw my friend kidnapped and I need help! Please, you've got to do something!"

Lou stood up and dusted herself off, not able to feel slightly resentful that the girl hadn't noticed that she wasn't a boy. Would she still have attacked her if she had been a woman? Or was it just tradition for Denver girls to pounce men in the street? "I'm not a boy, and second, I can't help you because I'm looking for two people myself."

"I'm sorry, I didn't see…I mean you don't look like a boy," she stated calmly before returning to a panicked state. "You don't understand! They've got THREE people. I just know they're going to kill them if we don't save them!"

Lou was rapidly growing more and more irritated. Couldn't this girl take a hint? "Listen, I'm sorry but I have to find my friends." She turned to walk away but felt a hand grab her arm.

"Please, then at least let me find a girl named 'Lou'."

Upon hearing her own name, Louise froze, "What did you say?"

"Lou. They kept saying that 'Lou' would save them, or that they wanted 'Lou', or something like that. I can't keep it all straight. Please, you've got to help me out!" Alana's sad eyes filled with tears. She was panting furiously, and for the first time Lou looked over her carefully. This young woman looked as if she had been running for miles, her skirts were torn, covered in mud, and she obviously hadn't slept all night.

"What did these men look like?" Lou asked, gently placing a hand on her shoulder as if to help steady her face-paced breathing.

"One had a black hat…the other had a white one. Both were handsome and…." Alana didn't have to say anymore, that was enough for Louise. She was right, her instincts had served her well…they were in danger.

"Take me there," Lou ordered.

Alana pressed her finger to her lips and crouched low as they approached a small cabin on the outskirts of town. It was boarded up and looked abandoned…a perfect hideout, Lou thought grimly, they knew what they were doing. Of course, the explosion of the Treasury building indicated that.

The two women slid along the side of the building and Lou almost bumped into Alana when she stopped suddenly. Through the tiniest hole in the wall she could just see the dark room and three shadowy figures sitting there dejectedly. Lou dug her fingers into the wood, not paying attention to the splinters, to keep her from calling out to Kid. She could see the blood on his neck, his back was too her. Jimmy, who was facing her direction had a black eye. She bit her lip when she saw how close the singing girl Layla was sitting to Kid.

Both Lou and Alana jumped when the door swung open and crashed against the wall. Lou's hand curled on her gun, not knowing what in the world she was going to do against three men with hostages and a wall in between, but determined to try something if they made a move.

A gruff voice that belonged to neither Kid nor Jimmy, and certainly not shrill Layla, began speaking, and Lou held her breath as if she might miss a word.

"All right…we know who you are…and what you're worth," he motioned to Layla with his gun, then pointed it at Kid and Jimmy. "But who are you?"

Lou closed her eyes; when they found out Kid and Jimmy were simple pony express riders they'd kill them for sure.

She sighed in relief when she realized someone had realized that too, and Layla spoke, "And this" she motioned to Kid, "is my fiancé. And that's my brother."

Lou sighed. Whatever skills Layla lacked as a singer she seemed to make up for as an actress. Her voice had not wavered, and she'd met the leader's eyes steadily.

He scratched his stubbled chin with the tip of his gun, "Hmm…"

"You can't keep us here forever," Kid suddenly said, "The Governor will bring down the whole Army on your heads if you don't let us go."

The man laughed and suddenly grabbed Layla by the arm and yanked her to her feet. She shrieked and kicked but was soon subdued as the cold butt of a revolver was pressed against her skull. "I doubt he'll want to do that…you never know who might get hurt in a scuffle like that."

He shoved Layla back down, and Lou sighed with relief as the men backed out of the room. Layla burst into a fit of sobs and screeches, and Kid reluctantly took her into his arms.

"It's alright, you've got to get a hold of yourself, Layla. We'll be fine." Kid said quietly.

"That's right, Lou will find us," Jimmy said in a low voice, sure of it.

Kid sighed, "She'll try. But I pray to God she doesn't find us. I don't want her to get involved in this."

Alana glanced at Lou quickly but she shook her head, and was about to whisper something when she heard a voice inside, "Get out and search the area…and find that girl that got away last night! She'll have the whole town looking for us by noon!"

Alana's eyes grew wide. Lou grabbed her hand and they bolted at once, ducking under the broken fence and weaving wildly between buildings until they were in the heart of the city.

Lou looked at Alana, "Is the Governor in the city?"

"Yes, he's staying at Governor Brady's mansion."

"Good. Go and tell him what's happened. Tell him that he can't do anything yet. Tell him Layla's life depends on it. Tie him down if you have to, Alana, I mean it! Tell him about Jimmy and Kid and tell him they won't let anything happen to her as long as they are alive," the words caught in her throat and she pushed down the hysteria that wanted to grip her, "I'll come later and we'll work something out. In the meantime, you stay in his protection Alana, understand? Those men would shoot you as soon as catch you now, understand? No one can know that they are missing yet and no one can know who Jimmy and Kid really…"

Her voice broke off and her eyes grew wide. No one could know who Jimmy and Kid really were and that they were missing. Their lives depended on it. And she'd just told a newspaper reporter both pieces of information. The story would probably run the next morning at the latest. Lou dipped slightly as her knees gave out, but Alana caught her by the arms.

Straightening herself, Lou started to walk rapidly in the other direction.

"Where are you going?" Alana asked frantically.

"To stop the press."

To be continued...Chapter Six